I am not old enough to remember, but I somehow still dread what it must have felt like to live through the Cuban missile crisis. The idea of waking up and going to work knowing that a nuke could drop on your head at any time must have been terrifying. That’s not to say society today isn’t terrifying. I’d just welcome it now. Reset everything and let nature take over. It sounds like a good pitch for a slot, right?

Well, Play’n GO must be in my head because they’ve created a post-apocalyptic utopia where only robots remain for the company’s new Sparky and Shortz Hidden Joules slot.

Get ready for what comes next

The reels of this slot are packed. Not content with just five reels and three rows as is standard, Play’n Go has created a slot with seven reels and seven rows. The slot is also not concerned with traditional paylines. Instead, the wins are created by clusters of five or more of the same symbol touching horizontally or vertically. Symbols involved in winning combinations are removed allowing new symbols to take their place. This gives you multiple chances to win off a single spin. This all results in a pretty compelling package and that’s before you even start talking about the bonus features.

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Clusters that are 2×2, 4×1, and 1×4 will merge to create a mega symbol. When this happens, a win multiplier will be added to the global multiplier total to the right of the reels. Any winning combination on that spin will be multiplied by the win multiplier. The size that the global multiplier will grow with the appearance of each mega symbol is determined by the Boost Meter, which increases by one with each cascading win. At the end of each spin, the Boost Meter and global multiplier are reset.

The slot also has five different kinds of wild symbols. The first is just a standard wild symbol that will substitute for other symbols to complete winning combinations. The other four are special wilds that will fulfill the standard wild function with a bonus feature being triggered when they’re involved in a winning combination. The red wild creates mega symbols, the yellow wild will remove low-paying crystal symbols, the pink will create standard wilds, and the green wild will create or destroy symbols.

Although the slot has a wide variety of base game bonus features, it does not offer a round of free spins or a bonus game.

Is Sparky and Shortz Hidden Joules slot powered on or out of juice?

As soon as the giant robot that is the reels of the Sparky and Shortz Hidden Joules slot dropped down in front of that gorgeous post-apocalyptic background, I was hooked. The bonus features are great and the gameplay fun, but it’s the amazing illustration and animation that kept me coming back again and again. Outside its musician/band-themed slots, this may be my favorite Play’n GO games the provider has ever released.

The slot has medium volatility, which gives the gameplay a nice balance between small consistent wins and rare big wins. The 6,000x max multiplier isn’t record-breaking, but it does allow you to play for up to €240,000 in winnings when you’re betting at €40 a spin. The slot has an RTP of 96.2%.

If you enjoyed Sparky and Shortz Hidden Joules slot, Play’n GO offers a wide range of other exciting slots for you to try out. Two of my favorite Play’n Go slots are Alice Cooper and the Tome of Madness and Charlie Chance in Hell to Pay.